It’s well known that, during the less fiscally solvent times in their lives, women will treat themselves with a little something from the make up counter; during the 2001 recession, for example, make up sales jumped by 23 percent. The rationalization is easy, “I may not”, you say, “be able to afford a new coat/skirt/pair of shoes but this nail polish/eye shadow/moisturizer will make me look thinner/younger/richer than I did before”. It is, I think you’ll admit, a lot to ask from a small container of goo…but that doesn’t stop us trying, especially when the product in question has been designed to push all of our budget splurge buttons.

The collaboration between Lancôme and designer Chris Benz is just such an item. The peach hued lipstick won’t be in stores until February but there’s already a wait list at Saks Fifth Avenue and Lancôme stores. The color was seen on the lips of the models in his spring show and, subsequently, on those of Rachel Zoe, Eva Mendes, Anne Hathaway, and Ellettra Wiedemann. The last, Benz’s friend and muse, appears with him on the lipstick’s packaging.